Same-sex kiss shouldn’t make The 1975 members liable for cancelled festival costs, says lawyer

Individual members of The 1975 should not be held responsible for the costs of Malaysian authorities closing down a music festival after two members of the band kissed on stage, a lawyer has said.

During the band’s appearance at the Good Vibes Festival, in Kuala Lumpur in July 2023, frontman Matty Healy attacked the southeast Asian nation’s stance on LGBTQ+ rights, telling the audience that playing there had been a mistake. He then kissed bass player Ross MacDonald on the lips.

“I do not see the point of inviting The 1975 to a country, then telling us who we can have sex with,” Healy said.

Homosexuality is illegal in Malaysia, with same-sex activity punishable by up to 20 years in prison and caning. There are no rights or protections for the LGBTQ+ community and the gender expression of trans people is explicitly criminalised.

The band’s set was curtailed before the entire festival was cancelled, following Healy’s “conduct and remarks”.

Festival organisers Future Sound Asia (FSA) claimed The 1975 breached their contract and that the four band members owed a duty of care. They are suing the band, seeking damages for “substantial losses”, said to be in the region of £1.9 million ($2.4 million).

But now, barrister Edmund Cullen, who is representing the four individual artists, has called the legal claim “illegitimate, artificial and incoherent” and an attempt “to pin liability on individuals”, the Press Association reported.

It was “really quite bizarre” that individual members of the band were being held liable because FSA had a contract with the band’s company only, he told a hearing at the High Court in London, on Wednesday (19 February).

“The allegations of breaches of a duty of care are not breaches of a duty of care at all,” he said. “They are breaches of Malaysian statutes and guidelines. That is why this claim is completely artificial against my clients.”

He asked the court to strike out the claim against the band members and for it to proceed against the company only.

However, in written submissions for FSA, Andrew Burns alleged that the band had “deliberately behaved in a way to challenge and provoke the Malaysian authorities”.

The 1975 first played the festival in 2016 and agreed at the time not to swear, smoke, drink, take off clothes or talk about religion and politics on stage, but “planned provocative conduct” in 2023″. In addition to the kiss, this included a “smuggled” bottle of wine on stage, a “second-rate set of songs” to “punish and upset the Malaysian audience and authorities” and an “obscene speech”, Burns alleged, according to The Independent.

“It is therefore fair, just and reasonable for the duty of care to be imposed and for them to answer for their acts of procuring breaches of contract,” he added.

In the wake of the controversy caused by the on-stage kiss, local LGBTQ+ people criticised the band for “giving white saviour complex”, claiming the incident could have put the country’s queer community in even greater danger.

Thilaga Sulathireh, a founder of the LGBTQ+ group Justice for Sisters, said: “One can appreciate the meaning of Healy’s protest but the timing of it may not necessarily benefit folks. Political parties are currently campaigning, and we know LGBT issues are often scapegoated.”

Malaysian drag queen Carmen Rose told the BBC World Service that Healy’s actions would give conservative politicians “more ammo to further their homophobic agenda to gain votes”.

She called the kiss “performative” and accused Healy of “giving white saviour complex”. He wasn’t doing it for our community”, she claimed, adding: “If he was doing it for our community, he would know what consequences we would have to go through.”